COLUMBUS, Ohio -- At least Ohio State refers to Wisconsin by name. There's no calling the Badgers "That Team Up Northwest."

So this isn't Michigan. If you try to ask the Ohio State players to compare their rivalry with Wisconsin with the Wolverines, a lot of them look at you funny.

"It's a different ballpark," center Corey Linsley said Monday.

"It's a completely different world," cornerback Travis Howard said.

No Ohio State player would tarnish the Michigan game by allowing that anything could match it. That's history. That's a bond to the past. That's what is explained to them every year.

But Wisconsin is what they have lived. So when Ohio State plays at Wisconsin at 3:30 p.m., on Saturday, the rivalry may not cut as deep, but the Buckeyes still bear the scars.

"We've had a big rivalry with them, almost as big since I've been here as The Team Up North," senior linebacker Zach Boren said.

No wound hurts current Buckeyes as much as their last trip to Madison in 2010, when Ohio State had just achieved the No. 1 ranking and Wisconsin returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown on the way to handing OSU its only loss of the season and wiping out a shot at a national title.

"I don't want to go on record saying I hate Wisconsin more than Michigan," junior receiver Philly Brown said. "I hate Wisconsin just as much as Michigan. Every year since I've been here, they've been a nightmare. They ruined our perfect season, and we had a heck of a game last year. This year hopefully it's not as close."

But it has been that close. The Buckeyes got their revenge in 2011, beating a clearly better Wisconsin team in Ohio Stadium on Braxton Miller's touchdown pass in the final seconds.

"I'm sure they hate us," Boren said. "I'm sure they're sitting there talking the same thing about it's such a big rivalry."

They are. Wisconsin running back Montee Ball said on a conference call Monday that the loss still lingers in the minds of the Badgers, and he called this a "rivalry of respect."

Wisconsin fans hope to repeat the celebration that followed the 2010 victory over Ohio State at Camp Randall Stadium.AP file

The 12-Year Skirmish

The recent history between Ohio State and Wisconsin has been pretty tight. Here are the last 11 matchups and what’s coming Saturday. 

2012: Ohio State (10-0) at Wisconsin (7-3) 

2011: Ohio State 33, Wisconsin 29 

2010: Wisconsin 31, Ohio State 18 

2009: Ohio State 31, Wisconsin 13 

2008: Ohio State 20, Wisconsin 17 

2007: Ohio State 38, Wisconsin 17 

2004: Wisconsin 24, Ohio State 13 

2003: Wisconsin 17, Ohio State 10 

2002: Ohio State 19, Wisconsin 14 

2001: Wisconsin 20, Ohio State 17 

2000: Ohio State 23, Wisconsin 7 

1999: Wisconsin 42, Ohio State 17

Wisconsin ensured that respect with its 31-18 win two years ago. It was this rivalry's version of Michigan's 1969 win over undefeated Ohio State. Fans on both sides will never forget that game, which started the Ten-Year War between Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler that encapsulated Ohio State and Michigan at its best.

So let's call this the 12-Year Skirmish.

Michigan held a 5-4-1 edge in the war, while in the last 11 meetings Ohio State holds just a 6-5 edge on the Badgers going into No. 12. Like every comparison to Ohio State-Michigan, this is a bit of a stretch.

For instance, this actually will have occurred over 14 seasons, because the teams didn't play in 2005 and 2006. While that was Woody and Bo, this stretch started as John Cooper vs. Barry Alvarez, then moved to Jim Tressel-Alvarez, then Tressel-Bret Bielema, then Luke Fickell-Bielema and now Urban Meyer-Bielema.

But what the series does represent is tight competition between two top teams. The 1998 season was the first of back-to-back Rose Bowl trips for Wisconsin, but the Badgers and Buckeyes didn't play that season. Going into 1999, Ohio State had a 7-1-1 edge in the previous nine games.

Wisconsin won in 1999, and since then Ohio State holds just a 6-5 edge, outscoring Wisconsin, 239-231. Over that time, in the 11 seasons in which they played, Ohio State is 114-36 on the field and Wisconsin is 103-49. The Buckeyes had the better record seven times, and the Badgers four times. Each team had just one losing season in the 11, and clearly, they are the two teams that should battle for the Leaders Division for years to come.

"The past few years it's between who is going to be the Big Ten champ," Linsley said. "That Team Up North has kind of been out of the picture for a while, Penn State has come in and out, but for the past couple years it's been Wisconsin and Ohio State. And that's the same thing for this year."

At 10-0 and 6-0 in the conference, Ohio State has already clinched at least a share of the Leaders Division. At 7-3 and 4-2, Wisconsin already has clinched a spot in the Big Ten title game because the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions are ineligible.

But Wisconsin doesn't want to back in to Indianapolis.

"We don't want people to say we made it there by default if we lose," Ball said. "But our main goal is to win out."

Ohio State wants to make Wisconsin do exactly that.

"At the end of the season, we want everybody to look at us as the best team in the Big Ten, even though we can't go to the Big Ten championship game," Brown said. "As of right now, we are the best team in the Big Ten, no doubt about it."

So while Urban Meyer, an Ohio native, arrived in Columbus with a full understanding of the Michigan rivalry, he's had to ask for a little help on this one. The players have obliged, reminding him of, among other things, what happened in 2010.

"I'm learning about it. I think they stole a season. They were telling me that story a little bit," Meyer said. "But it's interesting hearing our players talk about it, especially ones that I listen to, guys that have been in some of those big games. So it's real interesting. But this is a rivalry game, and it's a rivalry game because you have to understand who you're playing and what they've done the last few years. So they're a good very good team."

It's not Ohio State-Michigan. Hope no one was offended by even the slight suggestion. But as Meyer is discovering, Ohio State-Wisconsin is something worth understanding.

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.